I believe grapefruit juice contains a substance which interferes with the P450 enzyme system in the liver, a system that is involved in the metabolism of toxins and drugs. This is a common pathway for many drug interactions. Here are a few papers:

As for the false advertising, I agree there should be fines becuase the reality is that the current sstem is completely inadequate as a deterrant. Very few actions, even of a merely cease-and-desist nature, are undertaken, and it takes no effort at all to find flase claims alll over the internet. In my field, as a vet, I report these all the time and the FDA has never taken action on any of them. I had a FDA official tell me outright once that they dpn’t have the resources to worry about anything that doesn’t seem a pretty visible, egregious violation or a significant human health risk.

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The SkeptVet Blog
You cannot reason a person out of a position he did not reason himself into in the first place.
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I don’t recall the source or the specifics, but I think I read that the intestines have some mechanisms that inhibit transfer of many materials through the walls and into the bloodstream. A compound in grapefruit juice tends to block that mechanism allowing greater flow of those materials through the intestinal walls.

If we were to enforce all breach of honesty, there would be no advertisement at all. Personally I could live with that, but any savvy shopper knows that most claims are inflated or placed in a “best” light and picks their product for price and quality.

Economic impact aside, enforcing honest advertising seems to be a no-brainer to me. No one wants to be lied to about a product. If honest advertising were better enforced, we would be able to trust advertisements more, which would allow us to become more informed consumers, which would create a more competitive marketplace. In the information age, our attention is no longer abundant. I’d like not to have to wade through garbage like false advertisements and do extensive research into claims just to buy a product.

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“What people do is they confuse cynicism with skepticism. Cynicism is ‘you can’t change anything, everything sucks, there’s no point to anything.’ Skepticism is, ‘well, I’m not so sure.’” -Bill Nye

I believe grapefruit juice contains a substance which interferes with the P450 enzyme system in the liver, a system that is involved in the metabolism of toxins and drugs. This is a common pathway for many drug interactions. Here are a few papers:

Welcome back Brennan! (thanks, I was too lazy to look it up).

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Church; where sheep congregate to worship a zombie on a stick that turns into a cracker on Sundays…

I lurk more than I post lately mostly because I’m spending a lot of time writing for other things, and also since I always seemed to be saying the same things I’d said a bunch of times before. After a few thousand posts, every thread starts to look familiar!

Signature

The SkeptVet Blog
You cannot reason a person out of a position he did not reason himself into in the first place.
Johnathan Swift

I lurk more than I post lately mostly because I’m spending a lot of time writing for other things, and also since I always seemed to be saying the same things I’d said a bunch of times before. After a few thousand posts, every thread starts to look familiar!

Economic impact aside, enforcing honest advertising seems to be a no-brainer to me. No one wants to be lied to about a product. If honest advertising were better enforced, we would be able to trust advertisements more, which would allow us to become more informed consumers…

Yea, too bad we couldn’t expect, demand, some truth in advertising from the Bush/Cheney administration, think of the lives and resources and money that would have saved the world.

dougsmith - 29 September 2010 11:50 AM

It’s shameful that the government would underfund regulation enforcement like this.

Well, you know regulation is a socialist plot, don’t you?
Brennan, thanks for the info, I’ll check out those links.

I just learned than my California State Senator (I’m in a severely gerrymandered district) has been accused of 1) Living outside the district he represents; 2) Having accepted illegal campaign contributions; and 3) Working to pass a law that would restrict anyone else but POM from selling (or doing so easily) pomegranate juice (for which he apparently got a very large contribution and other perqs from POM). I believe he’s under indictment for at least the first two. He’ll be speaking at the local Democratic club next Thursday. It should be interesting.

I just learned than my California State Senator (I’m in a severely gerrymandered district) has been accused of 1) Living outside the district he represents; 2) Having accepted illegal campaign contributions; and 3) Working to pass a law that would restrict anyone else but POM from selling (or doing so easily) pomegranate juice (for which he apparently got a very large contribution and other perqs from POM). I believe he’s under indictment for at least the first two. He’ll be speaking at the local Democratic club next Thursday. It should be interesting.

Occam

Talk about delicious!
Do keep us posted on this. This could be better than a soap-opera.